Can .org domains use Google Structured Data?

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Can .org domains use Google Structured Data?

onlinesource

2:46 am on Dec 22, 2013 (gmt 0)

So years ago, I wanted a particular domain name. It just so happened that .com, .net, and .whatever were taken. The only choice left was .org. I didn't think twice about it.

For years, we ranked well.

Lately, it's fallen off and I've been trying to tweak my settings in GMT and testing out Structured Data Testing Tool. Problem is, I get an error everywhere that says:

Error: This information will not appear as a rich snippet in search results, because it seems to describe an organization. Google does not currently display organization information in rich snippets

Error: Missing required field "name (fn)".

What is this? Does Google consider my site an organization. What if it not really? Am I being prevented from using Google Structured Data?

lucy24

4:26 am on Dec 22, 2013 (gmt 0)

Isn't that a reference to 'itemprop="name"'? Without a name the whole markup ceases to function. They also insist on, I think, itemscope. (That's the one you make into a div enclosing the whole package. And hope your css doesn't have any :first-child or > selectors, because you've just broken them ;) )

There's definitely no block on dot org sites using schema.org markup. In fact it's the only place I have ever used it.

First time I used Structured Markup I had to tweak it about six times before the markup validator was happy. But they stop complaining eventually.

dcheney

5:47 am on Dec 22, 2013 (gmt 0)

My main website is a .org and I use some structured data with no problem (type: person).

JD_Toims

6:56 am on Dec 22, 2013 (gmt 0)

Isn't that a reference to 'itemprop="name"'? Without a name the whole markup ceases to function. They also insist on, I think, itemscope.

That's for using schema.org markup, which is not what's being used if fn is missing.

First, I don't understand why you're using microformats rather than schema.org when schema.org is the accepted standard being developed and supported by all 3 major search engines.

Error: This information will not appear as a rich snippet in search results, because it seems to describe an organization. Google does not currently display organization information in rich snippets

Error: Missing required field "name (fn)".

The first "error" is a "nothing error". It's simply letting you know the markup will not be used to generate a rich snippet, yet at least -- Why they confuse the issue by calling it an error is beyond me, because it's really not an error; it's simply not supported for rich-snippets currently.

The second error is because you need class="fn org" to declare the organization name using microformatting -- See the microformats hCard page for more: [microformats.org...]